mandag den 7. november 2011

Experience from PTR, and how I see the changes to shamans in 4.3.

I have been playing around on PTR both with my shaman and druid (Yes, I got a resto druid as well – rej rej wg), but also the majority of bosses 10 normal / heroic – 25man normal / heroic (Not that I have tested all on every difficulty). So what is my experience so far? And is the QQ on forums in regards to resto shamans for 4.3 justified?

So far I think the changes to resto shamans looks rather promising, and I believe that it will be mandatory to run with a resto shaman for Ancestral Vigor on tanks (Stack the buff up before combat, and just keep a Riptide running = It will be kept up, and the buff gets refreshed / stacks with healing from other resto shamans).

Since I am mainly raiding 25man heroic I will make that the focus of my experiences:

Morchock: We ran with 6 healers (tried different combos 2 x hpala, 2 x hpriest 2x rdruid or 2x rshaman and I played both shaman and druid) . I started on my shaman, but since I was asked to help soaking crystals my HPs was suffering quite badly and despite Spiritwalker’s Grace (yay!). It is quite doable as a resto druid and you will spark out quite decent looking HPs + Treeform is very, very potent. However, when we tried 2 x rshaman instead of 2 x rdruid, and changed that healers were no longer soaking it was far more stable (As stable as playing with 2-300 ms can be). I want to point out a few things in regards to shamans a) Since you got a timer on stomp you can time a GHW on the tank = It is required because the boss hits like a truck, and if you can place HR smart (As in the run patch from orb to orb (ofc. Covering the lastest on your side) you will notice it becomes quite a lot easier. In the transition you are able to cast some LBs if you position yourself smart, however, if you are on soaking duty I will suggest speccing into imp. Ghost Wolf.

Yor'sahj: The fight seems a little overtuned (I have only tried as resto druid), and while ”learning” to bad comboes (red + green will rape you) and the hate for purple (You are able to cast hots before the buff ”comes” up and it is quite vital to throw out a few Rejs. before the buff is “reapplied”, however, ONLY if people got less than 4 stacks or else you will just wipe the raid so WG in that phase is a no go)
Nonethelss, I suspect that the shaman will be quite nifty if we went for a heavy mastery build.

Warlord Zon’ozz:

Bouncing isn’t really that much of a problem, however, making people move / dispelling them before they take an retarded amount of damage seems to be the biggest issue (and people not running in the same direction) in phase1. However, things changes in phase2 and the fights changes from “ladi da” to “AAAAAARRRRGH ALL COOLDOWNS NAUW!”. It seems slightly overtuned or we did a very poor job in reducing the damage taken since we only lasted roughly 90-120 seconds (That was with 2 x druids + Tranq and a shitload of cooldowns). It does look like a fun fight tbh., but all it takes is for one person being too slow to get out or a healer being trigger happy in regards to dispelling and BOOOOOOM.

Hagara: I do like the mechanics of this fight, allthough I have only done it in 10man heroic, phase 1 is pretty straight forward occasionally burst damage on the tanks, icecubes and frost damage which ranged should help soak to avoid melee dying like the small bithces they are.
Transition Storm: In one way I think it is a shame that they removed some of the lightning rods, but on the other side it was a nightmare with pets triggering the buff and pretty much making it unhealable.
Transtion Frost: Run run run, put some damage on the cubs and dispel people (Freedom works like a charm here). People might say that Imp. Ghost wolf is required, and in some way it does make it easier, however, Telluric Currents got more potential from my point of view. Since on 25man with druid roar, and the possibility that you can just jump into the blue circle – take the 20-25k damage and jump back to the outer ring when the spike has passed. It is really not that complicated (When they suddenly nerfed the speed of the spike during the fight we had 4 people running into the spike due to it being slower :] ). After each transition Hargara will take 100% extra damage, and this is where you want to hit your Lightninbolt. I gained 150k mana when we downed him @ 10man from these transitions, I say TC > Imp. Ghost wolf for that fight.

Ultraxion: PTR with 2-300 ms while trying to push your HPs lead to some stupid deaths (a few by meself). We ran with 2 resto shamans, and this is where Ancestral Vigor really shines, and why is that you might ask ? A) The aoe is quite high, people who needs to soak comes out with 10k more HP which is quite nifty, and you will be able to keep it up very very close to a 100% with 2 x resto shamans with 2 x HR and CH + Riptide spam (However, it is a little hard on your mana, and with A) The aoe is quite high, people who needs to soak comes out with 10k more HP which is quite nifty, and you will be able to keep it up very very close to a 100% with 2 x resto shamans with 2 x HR and CH + Riptide spam (However, it is a little hard on your mana, and with our WS proccing more often than on Beth’ well – you got enough buttons to push).

I am going to stop here in regards to the fights since I don’t want to hand out too many free hints, and then address the second part.

Is the QQ on forums regarding shamans for 4.3 justified ?

Short answer: No.

Long answer: Oh hell no, with Ancestral Vigor most guild will want to bring a restoration shaman for 4.3 due to the extra HP on tanks (Anyone saying – Ah it is a gimmick and not worth it , well here is a question – Do you ask your priests to buff Fortitude, if yes – stfu. If no – Go play “Hello Kitty”.

The buff to Riptide is decent, however, since you will be using Riptide to keep Vigor running on 1-2 tanks quite a lot of it will be overhealing, but then again so would it be if you threw it on a raid member anyway.
Furthermore, since a big chunk of the fights is “gather and heal” we are in a very good spot. There will of course be fights that favor one class or the other, but it has always been so the only difference is that we now are applying more heavily for a raidspot.